Andrew Musgrave | Trinity Fellow 2006-08 | by Audrey Oppman

To hear Andrew Musgrave tell it, God has a funny sense of humor. He never saw himself wanting to work with kids. Yet the Capuchin Volunteer Corps placed him in Milwaukee as a high school teacher after he graduated from the University of Notre Dame. Three years later, despite his uneasiness with nursing homes, Musgrave found himself working at Interfaith Older Adult Programs as a graduate student in Marquette University’s Trinity Fellows Program.He trusted that God knew what he was doing.Musgrave participated in Trinity Fellows, a graduate fellowship program dedicated to developing urban leaders with a commitment to social and economic justice, from 2006 to 2008. Seven years later, Musgrave keeps ties with Trinity and Marquette. The program’s director, Carole Ferrara, still sees him at events on campus, both Trinity-related and otherwise. Whether it’s a holiday party or a conference on race at the university, she said, it’s “no surprise to me to see him there.”Musgrave has done a lot since his Trinity years. He worked for Interfaith for three years after he graduated from Trinity. He also worked for Guest House and SET Ministries, two nonprofits serving the homeless or families, respectively. In July 2014, he began his current job as director of social justice ministries and parish outreach at Three Holy Women Catholic Parish.Musgrave had always wanted to be a nonprofit executive director, so working for the church wasn’t part of his life’s plan. That’s why when offered the job at Three Holy Women, he initially was unsure, even though he has attended it as long as he’s lived in Milwaukee. He decided to accept it after praying and discussing it with his wife.“I have found in so many times in my life that, totally undeserving, God opens doors for me and puts and opportunity in front of me – I just can’t in good faith not walk through it,” he said. “If God opens a door for you, who am I to say no? Who am I to step back?”This door God opened allows him to live out his passion for social justice not only in his personal life, but also professionally. “I try to make my life have consistency and a common undergirding of justice and compassion and service. This was a way to very tangibly and in a very pronounced way orient my life toward that.”Since he graduated from Trinity, Ferrara has seen just how deeply Musgrave is committed to his work. “His commitment to social justice, to living it – as I’ve gotten to know him – that’s what I think of him: That he lives it,” she said.In his director’s position, Musgrave oversees 21 social justice programs at Three Holy Women and three other Milwaukee parishes. Some require a great deal of his attention. Others are extremely self-sufficient, and for that he is grateful.As much as he loves his job, Musgrave wishes he could spend more time with his family. On his desk are several pictures of his wife Ana and their two daughters, Lyla, age 7, and Juliet, 5 months. His job lends itself to long days and frequent evening meetings – time he wishes he could be with his girls.Musgrave also is frustrated that not enough is being done to solve the problems facing Milwaukee. He knows there are huge issues with inconsistency in education, segregation, homelessness and a lack of resources for those struggling with mental illness. Mental illness is especially high among the homeless. A few of the programs he heads work directly to solve some of these issues, but others go untouched and ignored.“I want our programs to be deeper for the volunteers,” he said, “but I also want to find ways to make the programs more substantive and deeper for the recipients of the service as well.”Riverwest Food Pantry is one example. Musgrave is a board member for the pantry, which is a combined program between Three Holy Women and three other local parishes. The food pantry is technically an emergency food system, but he doesn’t see it that way.“It’s not emergency food,” Musgrave said of the program. “People come every single week. People live off of it. It is not emergent that they get this food. It is regular. They rely on it.”Food pantry board members spent a lot of time in 2014 on how the program could have greater impact long term. They focused not so much on providing food for the poor, but rather on the resources and support for people in need. Musgrave and his colleagues want to make the program more sustainable, but their goal is to put themselves out of business.“Every good nonprofit, more or less, their goal should be to not exist any more,” he said. “We should do so good at our work that we don’t need this any more,”Musgrave hopes to use this kind of model in some of the other programs he oversees. For him, it all goes back to finding long-term solutions to everyday problems. He knows the needs will always be there. Still, he’s determined to diminish them as much as is possible.

Less than 50 of the 202 parishes in the archdiocese of Milwaukee have a position such as his. Musgrave wishes that the archdiocese could focus more attention and resources on social justice in the same way Three Holy Women does. This only motivates him to do more.